Published

19 Lavender Hill

One of the ugliest buildings in Shaftesbury ward has to be 19 Lavender Hill. I can’t remember seeing the building in use in all the time I’ve lived here. Indeed, thinking about all the changes Lavender Hill has seen the dilapidated building on the corner of Garfield Road and Lavender Hill is one of the few constants.

But hopefully that will soon come to an end. I, along with council colleagues, have been pushing for action to be taken for some time and the building will soon have new owners who will, hopefully, rid it of pigeons and restore it to use.

The original owners had been under the threat of a compulsory purchase order for some time, and had delayed by making some moves at restoration. However, when it became clear that no long term change was going to come the council used it’s compulsory purchase powers. That the council made a Compulsory Purchase Order shows how bad the building had got, since there is a policy preference to working with landlords and freeholder to bring a building back into use rather than forcing a sale.

The building is now owned by the council, and will soon be put back into the market with conditions the building is renovated and re-occupied in a reasonable time. Quite what impact this has on the local pigeon population remains to be seen, but for humans it should see an improvement in the street scene of that bit of Lavender Hill.